Healthy Meal Ideas shared from Angie A

Strawberry Yogurt Crunch
6 oz. carton of low calorie/low carb yogurt (I like Weight Watchers Brand)
½ c. low fat or fat free cottage cheese
6 strawberries (I don’t always use these)
½ c. oats or whole grain cold cereal (like Kashi, Special K)
Put it in a bowl and mix it all together.


Smoothies
1 c. water or skim milk
1 scoop protein powder (Vanilla is a good choice, mixes well with fruit. You can get some at Costco)
Fruit (I use the frozen strawberries from Costco a lot. I usually put 5 in. It’s also yummy to throw in a little bit of orange or coconut extract for extra flavor)
1/3 c. fiber cereal or oats
6 ice cubes
Combine and blend all ingredients together.


Egg Burrito
1 large low carb whole grain tortilla (La Tortilla Factory from Costco)
1 egg
4 egg whites
2 TB salsa 1 piece of fruit
Scramble eggs and place with salsa into tortilla. Crisp on each side in frying pan sprayed with cooking spray. Eat fruit on the side

Blueberry pancakes and eggs
1/3 c. whole grain pancake mix (We like the Kodiac pancake mix. I think Macey’s has it)
1/4 c. blueberries
1/3 c, water
2 TB sugar free syrup
1 egg
4 egg whites

Stir water and pancake mix. Stir in blueberries to pancake mix. Cook in pan with cooking spray and top with syrup. You can also use in waffle maker. Cook eggs as desired. Angie’s note – I don’t like eggs so I make the pancake and then have a Morningstar Farms ‘sausage’ patty instead. (That’s not real sausage, it’s made from tofu or veggies or something). If you like sausage you could have low fat turkey sausage. Also I don’t really like the blueberries in the pancake so I don’t put them in and I eat a piece of fruit on the side.


Sausage and Toast
2 low fat turkey sausages
1 piece whole wheat toast with butter or you could have a serving of whole grain cereal – Special K has a good variety
1 piece of fruit


LUNCH
PB & J with Fruit
2 pieces of whole wheat bread
2 T. natural peanut butter (Adam’s is a good brand)
Little bit of honey or sugar free jelly
1 serving fruit


Rice Bowls
I am giving you the measurements for 1 serving. To make this easier, triple the measurements of each ingredient and then save them in your fridge. That way you can just assemble the rice bowl during the week instead of cooking everything every day. You will end up having the same lunch 3 times in the week but that just makes everything easier I think.
Zesty Chicken Rice Bowl
½ c. cooked brown rice
2 TB fat free Zesty Italian dressing
4 oz. cooked chicken
6 cherry tomatoes
1 TB parmesan cheese

Cook chicken and brown rice separately. Stir in remaining ingredients into the cooked chicken and rice.

Tips: you can use the canned chicken from Costco. It is 99% fat free and works really well in the rice bowl. We like to throw the chicken in a skillet for a little bit before putting it in the rice bowl, that way it’s warm.

Mexican Rice Bowl
4 oz. cooked chicken
½ c. cooked brown rice
1/3 c. black beans
2 TB corn 1 TB fat free sour cream
2 TB salsa

Combine all ingredients together in a frying pan sprayed with cooking spray. Remove from pan when warmed and place in bowl.

Tip: again you can used the canned chicken. Also, we really like to use the ‘Stemables’ corn that you can get in the frozen section at the grocery store. It just steams in the bag in your microwave.

Cheesy Ranch Bowl
4 oz. cooked chicken
1/3 c. cooked brown rice
1 c. steamed cauliflower
1 TB fat free sour cream
1 t. low fat parmesan cheese
1 TB mozzarella cheese
1 t. ranch powder

Warm all ingredients together in a frying pan sprayed with cooking spray.

This one is my favorite. I eat the cauliflower on the side though with some spray butter and salt and pepper.


Some other ideas are:
A Subway ‘Fresh Fit’ menu choice sandwich with Baked potato chips

Grilled chicken breast with side salad. Use low fat dressing

Sandwiches: just make sure you are using whole wheat bread, low fat meat and low fat condiments. Have a side salad and piece of fruit with it.


DINNERS
BBQ Chicken & Sweet Potato Pie
4 oz. cooked chicken
2 TB low calorie/low carb bbq sauce
4 oz. sweet potato or 1 red potato
1 TB fat free sour cream

Marinate and cook chicken in BBQ sauce. Add sour cream to baked potato with no calorie/no carb sweetner like Truvia and cinnamon on top. Don’t use the sweetner/cinnamon if using the red potato.

Chicken Taco
4 oz. chicken
1/3 beans (kidney, black, navy or garbanzo)
2 TB corn
1 TB fat free sour cream
2 TB salsa
Corn tortilla

Grill chicken with a fresh lemon-lime squeeze and garlic powder. Slice chicken into thin strips. Add chicken & all other ingredients to a corn tortilla. Fold tortilla in half and crisp taco on each side in frying pan sprayed with cooking spray.

Canadian Bacon Pizza
1 low calorie/low carb whole grain pita pocket
3 TB pizza sauce
2 TB onion of choice
8 zucchini slices
4 oz cooked chicken
1 slice deli turkey
2 TB pineapple chunks
2 TB mozzarella cheese

Layer pizza sauce on top of pita. Stack all other ingredients on top. Cook in oven on pan with cooking spray. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes or until edges are crispy.

Lean Top Loin Pork Chops
4 oz. lean boneless pork chops (raw measurement)
1 TB low cal-carb steak sauce
4 oz red potato
1 TB fat free sour cream
¼ cup chopped onion of choice
1 TB chopped green onion
1 t. ranch powder
1 c. broccoli

Grill or bake pork chop. Add steak sauce to pork and top with fresh ground pepper. Boil or bake potato. Top potato with sour cream, onion, ranch powder, and fresh ground pepper. Broccoli on the side. Or…

Crock pot pork with bbq sauce, sour cream, ranch powder, onion, garlic and fresh lemon-lime squeeze. Replace potato with small low carb-cal whole grain tortilla. Add pork and sauce mixture creating a shredded pork burrito.

You can also use your normal recipes but just make some healthy tweaks to them. Like Spaghetti. Use Ronzoni ‘Smart Taste’ noodles or whole grain noodles. Use 93% lean hamburger. Have with broccoli or green beans and a piece of whole wheat toast.

SNACK
Nuts & Cheese
½ c. low fat or fat free cottage cheese
1/3 c. sliced red grapes
¼ banana sliced
2 TB slivered almonds

Combine fruit and cottage cheese and sprinkle almonds on top


Crunchy Ranch Dip
½ c. low fat or fat free cottage cheese
1 t. ranch powder
15 whole grain crackers like Small Kashi whole grain crackers or reduced fat Wheat Thins
8 baby carrots
8 cherry tomatoes
½ cucumber

Min in ranch powder to cottage cheese. Dip veggies and crackers into cottage cheese mixture.


Bean & Cracker Cheese Spread
16 whole wheat crackers
1 laughing cow low fat cheese wedge
2/3 c. shelled edamame beans
Dip cracker into cheese. Eat beans to the side warm or cold


You could also have:
1 piece of fruit and 1 string cheese
1 piece of fruit and 1 oz. lean beef jerky
20 almonds
1 piece of whole wheat toast with 1 T. of peanut butter
1 piece of fruit and 10 cashews or almonds
Protein Bar with 1 piece of fruit. I like the Zone bars at Costco